The Freedom Institute Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
852644215
IRS 990 coverage
2020–2022
Forms available
Form 990 2022
Location
Grand Junction, CO, USA
Phone
9707785558
Rating
80
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Crime Prevention

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$1,544,176
Expenses
$1,448,349
Assets
$285,703
Liabilities
$8,420

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2022. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

3 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Micah Espinoza (President/CEO)

Highest reported compensation

  • Micah Espinoza (President/CEO): $82,000 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2022. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

The Freedom Institute exists to break the generational cycle of poverty and incarceration by rebuilding lives, restoring families and revitalizing communities.

What it reported doing in 2022

Social Enterprise Freedom Industries was birthed out of a need to provide participants with training and employment opportunities that would supersede the stigma associated with incarceration. By validating our participants inherit worth and potential, we restore their dignity and offer them a career pathway. This success is achieved through apprenticeships and vocational employment. Freedom Industries partners with local community businesses to hire and train our participants in a specific trade. We develop skills for life stability and create community through teams, while cultivating work ethic and responsibility. It is our goal to to produce healthy, contributing members of society by training and staffing participants in all levels of employement including helping them to launch their own business, when possible.

Operating model

Revenue model
Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 92% of reported program-service expenses outside its grant, affiliate-payment, and member-benefit lines. This expense classification does not rule out separately announced grant awards.

The verdict

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 84
  • Transparency & Controls: 88
  • Accountability: 70
  • Sustainability: 41
  • Growth: 80

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 92.2%; rating input score 92
  • Program expense ratio: 98.3%; rating input score 98
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 92.3%; rating input score 92; 15th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 97.1%; rating input score 97; 44th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 66.7%; rating input score 67; 13th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 6 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 75
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 6.2%; rating input score 53; 53rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.2; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.03; rating input score 61; 61st percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 5.7%; rating input score 52; 52nd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 43.3% per year; rating input score 100; 94th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 27.2% per year; rating input score 100; 90th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -6.1% per year; rating input score 0; 6th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 92.2% of revenue deployed · 98.3% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 2 of 3 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $1.4M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $82K · 3 people listed
  • Consistency: 27 of 28 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
  • Filing history: 3 filing years from 2020 to 2022
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
  • People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.
  • Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 8/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
  • Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 53/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 52/100.